[apologies if this is double- or cross-posted; the first try didn`t seem to work...]

i`m shopping around for a flute and have been offered this recently refurbished second-hand one for a price comfortably within impulse-buy range ;P

i`m trying to find out more about it, how old it is, how much it`s worth, etc. here`s what i know:

- it`s a selmer, model unknown, the serial number appears to be 12930

- case looks quite old. square and appears to be made of wood(!)

- a couple of pictures

the whole flute, with the case:
http://img396.imageshack.us/img396/4337/wholeflute5rm.jpg

the flute in pieces (two shots of mouthpiece/head bit for some reason):
http://img396.imageshack.us/img396/2934/pieces6ji.jpg


can anyone find/provide information about this flute?

thanks

What is written on the actual flute? Does it say "Selmer"? Is there any other writing?

hmm, i`m not sure, i`ll check with the seller. i can`t see anything like that on the pics, and i haven`t actually seen the flute in person (yet).

... ok checked with the seller (yay sms); it doesn`t actually say `selmer` on the flute itself. just the word `sterling` and the aforementioned suspected serial number. so it could just be random-other-flute-in-a-selmer-box.

having never seen a selmer flute, i don`t know what kind of markings to expect. the selmer website doesn`t have much to say about old flutes, and only seems to have a single selmer-branded flute on there at all, which doesn`t help much, since the case suggests the instrument predates the internet by a good while.

If it is a "Selmer Sterling" model flute then it is not a good model. It is old and inferior. I have condemned a few of these as not worth servicing, and it is very rare for me to do that.

Yes, I highly agree with Arak on that one. Adjustments and poor tuning is just one of the problems with them.

I would play it safe and go with a newer flute if you can.

One problem with them, if I recall corectly, is that the key cups are very little bigger in diameter than the tone holes, so that the tone holes unreliably try to seal on the pads right at their edge where the surface is curved.

Let me preface with: I have played on my Selmer flute for 35 years. My flute was the "top of the line" at the time of purchase, so it was (supposedly) a better quality flute than the one in question. It was played continuously, yet only needed minimal servicing until a complete repad a couple of years ago. It always has had a beautiful sound, and it is near and dear to my heart. Not bad for a flute of that age. Yet....

That said, you cannot even determine the true brand of the flute, so be extra wary. If you have played this flute, or someone whom you trust has played this flute, and it plays well and easy, it may suit your present needs.

However, depending on your long-term plans, you may want to look into a Yamaha or another brand mentioned in the posts on this forum. I have played new, or recent year Selmers, and they aren`t ANYTHING like my flute in terms of quality and playability; totally not comparable to my flute - perhaps my flute was an aberration (in a good way..?). They don`t even seem like the same brand, which is very confusing to me!

Which just proves that you MUST play the flute, or have someone with expertise play it, especially if it is a flute whose reliability is unknown. You don`t want to get a flute that doesn`t play well, then you`ll end up frustrated and discouraged.

Good Luck!

well if the case is made of wood then it really could be a proffesion model and a really good flute. i used to have a selmar and my teacher said that it was better then any yamaha.

as I`ve mentioned earlier, I haven`t seen the flute in person -- my speculation about the case being possibly wood is based entirely off that one photo I have of it...

I`m thinking I`m going to give this flute a miss; it sounds like being more of a gamble than just buying a new student-class instrument from a store with a decent return policy (since I`ve never played a flute before, so a play-test would be meaningless, and I don`t know anyone who plays).

Piccolo queen, many terrible flutes have been marketed in wooden cases. Plasstic cases are quite a recent phenomenon, and some VERY good flutes are now marketed in plastic cases.

I would like to add that your teacher can`t have played many models of Yamaha, and possibly has played none since decades ago, when they were not as good as they are now. IMO all current model Yamaha flutes play a lot better than perhaps 95% of other-brand flutes made in the era of the "Selmer Sterling"!!!! And this definitely includes the Selmer Sterling itself.

Also, why wouldn`t the flute have "Selmer" directly on it? That case is OLD! I`ve never seen one quite like it.

Mine is a rounded, leather-covered wooden inner case with a soft padded outer zipper case. My flute definitely says "Selmer" on it, but it doesn`t have a model name/number. It does have a serial number and silver type on each section. And if my math is correct, it was bought new in the 1970-71 school year. Dang, I`m old!

arak you r not verry nice! my teacher has so played hundreds of yamaha flutes. he told me so. and all proffessional flutes cum with a wood case so u r rong.

google`s not being helpful -- unfortunately a search for {"selmer sterling" flute} mostly returns pages where it`s part of the larger phrase "selmer sterling-silver flute" from ebay (and dodgy-looking ebay frontends).

one cached forum hit does suggest that the "selmer sterling" line of clarinets dates from around the 20`s, so it seems fairly reasonable to suppose that the same line of flutes shares a similar period (seems there`s "selmer sterling" saxes floating around, too).

that`s assuming this is actually a "selmer sterling" flute, and not some random flute with "sterling" written on it; and from Arak`s description of the workmanship it sounds as if the random other flute would likely be the better...

tell you what, the way this forum replaces apostrophes with backticks makes it very hard to read posts. :/

piccolo queen, I think you or your teacher got things wrong somewhere. BTW, how long have you been playing flute? BTW is one of your other names Kara?